Online Business for sale... selling template sites on flippa: $4000 profit per month

[TrustButVerify]

I was searching around for websites for sale... as we all like to do.

I contacted a person selling an "online business" for sale... asking price about 50k USD and netting $4000 a month net profit.

I had no idea what it was but then I found out...

The business model: selling template "starter websites" on flippa

I sell turnkey properties that can be replicated easily on flippa and ebay. I sell the sites for $300-$500 a piece. Currently doing 10+ sales per month.

There a few online courses that teach this exact business model, that even give you template starter sites for you to change the design and duplicate.


Anyone interested in a web business for sale for only 12-13x monthly revenue

[Clinton]

Yes, that "business model" has come up for discussion once or twice. Got a link to his auction?

I'm all for helping newbies get up and running and making a profit. But if anyone reading this thread thinks this business model is interesting, I'll urge you to do one thing before buying such a business: Examine how happy previous customers are with their sites. Examine not just whether the seller delivered the template he promised but what the buyers now think, in retrospect, about all the claims made re profits to be had. If the template sales are being achieved largely due to the hype then you're going to have to maintain that level of hype to keep the business ticking over.

My guess: All this hype about money to be made from new sites is going to come crashing down very badly one day.

[Ajeet]

[QUOTE=Clinton;2333My guess: All this hype about money to be made from new sites is going to come crashing down very badly one day.[/QUOTE]

I hope you are wrong Clinton. I have given up a lot, and spent a lot of money to make these new "long tail" exact match sites. So far they are doing well. I would be very excited about buying successful sites instead. But, I have an amazingly bad track record in that, except for the very first site I ever purchased.

Here is an example of one of my recent "getting myself scammed" site purchases. (Aside: Since the purchase, I have tried hard to make the site work, including tons of content and article links)

[Clinton]

All the best with that site, Ajeet, but that's not the type I'm talking about, yours is over a year old and a PR1.

It's the brand new sites that Flippa and others are encouraging as a great way to get into the market. MO: Someone researches a niche, picks some keywords, creates a template, adds some functionality like some feeds/autocontent/blog etc., and sells it to the punter as his door to fame and fortune.

[petertdavis]

Here is an example of one of my recent "getting myself scammed" site purchases. (Aside: Since the purchase, I have tried hard to make the site work, including tons of content and article links)

How is that one a scam? Didn't look too bad to me. Heck, I'd pay what you bought it for to take the site over. Seems like a nice keyword domain.

[Ajeet]

How is that one a scam? Didn't look too bad to me. Heck, I'd pay what you bought it for to take the site over. Seems like a nice keyword domain.

The scam part is that the guy was not making anywhere close to what he claimed on AdSense.

I loved the 1-word domain name. And the fact that it ranks well for so many keyphrases. Since the purchase, I have added (and scheduled) content. That ensures that there is no huge time gap since my previous post. And a lot of articles on ezinearticles, etc. Overall, a $300 odd additional investment

It is doing ok now. So not a scam in the more sinister sense of it, but there was a clear misrepresentation of income. Despite the data on flippa, he had confirmed Net adsense income of $18 odd per month. The real number was something like $2.

Want to buy it for $750.